American Future - Reuters reports that Secretary of State Rice has put off plans to visit Egypt, where the jailing of opposition leader Ayman Nour has raised deep U.S. concerns.
After meeting the Egyptian foreign minister last week, Rice said Washington had "very strong concerns" about Nour, who was taken to a prison hospital this week after suffering a bout of ill health during an interview with prosecutors.
"We have made clear our serious concerns repeatedly to the Egyptian government, especially in light of the recent reports regarding Nour's health," said State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore. "We view Nour's detention a deeply disturbing development, especially in an election year."
Chalk up another one for Mr. Bush, who's doing what he said he'd do.
Arab-Israeli Thaw
By Marc Schulman on Tunisia
The New York Times reports that Tunisia has invited Ariel Sharon to attend a UN conference that it will host in November.
Tunisia's president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, extended the offer for Mr. Sharon to visit his North African nation during the World Summit on the Information Society there, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, Mark Regev, said.
Mr. Regev said that arrangements had not been finalized, but noted that Israel considered the invitation an important signal. "This is not something that happens every day," Mr. Regev said. "It is clearly a sign of the times." |
